Lin Suri's presence was tranquil. He stood before an ink wash painting with his hands clasped behind his back.
A voice came from behind him.
Limited by the viewing angle, even in this third-person perspective, Chen Lingxi could not see who was speaking.
Yet the man's tone was incredibly arrogant as he continued, "The maternal qi is an extraordinary treasure. For a mediocre nobody to obtain it would be a reckless waste of heavenly gifts.
In this Yuanjiang Prefecture, other than the government office, Lu Baizhong, Xuanhuo Temple, and the Credit Peddler, no one else can contend with you and me.
Very few people in the capital know of this opportunity regarding the maternal qi. If you and I join forces, we might just be able to seize it."
The man's voice was young and brimming with confidence, as if the Ancestral Mountain Maternal Qi was as easy to take as reaching into his own pocket.
Lin Suri shifted his gaze from the ink wash painting and finally turned around.
As his perspective shifted, Chen Lingxi finally saw the speaker.
The man wore a black robe and a face mask. The only visible features were his eyes, which seemed to lack pupils; instead, they were a pale, deathly white, looking exceedingly bizarre."The Ancestral Mountain Maternal Qi is indeed an extremely rare treasure. Whether Daoist Brother Chao or I obtain it, the chances of finding a cauldron vessel in the future will greatly increase, allowing us to grasp the truth of heaven and earth and attain great freedom."
Lin Suri said slowly...
A flash of pleasant surprise crossed the black-robed man's eyes. He was just about to speak when Lin Suri let out a casual chuckle. "It is just a pity that within the borders of Yuanjiang Prefecture, there is only one Ancestral Mountain, and likely only one strand of maternal qi.
With only a single strand of maternal qi, how are the two of us supposed to divide it?"
The black-robed man seemed prepared for this. He smiled and said, "Between us, it naturally goes to the highest bidder.
If Brother Lin is willing, I will offer a cauldron vessel fragment as compensation for our alliance... Once we secure the maternal qi, I have yet another great opportunity to gift you in exchange for sole possession of the maternal qi.
If Brother Lin is unwilling, you may simply make an offer. If the price is right, I am willing to sell the maternal qi to you."
A cauldron vessel fragment?
Chen Lingxi clearly sensed Lin Suri's breath falter slightly upon hearing those words before returning to normal.
"A cauldron vessel fragment? What rank is it?" Lin Suri asked.
The black-robed man gently flicked his sleeve.
Instantly, a candle silently appeared in midair.
The candle was pitch-black. It was impossible to tell if it was made of gold, jade, or bone. Light fell upon it like water into a deep well, failing to produce even a sliver of reflection.
"This is a fragment of the Time Candle. The Time Candle is no ordinary cauldron vessel; it is a Golden Portal cauldron vessel! Daoist Brother Lin, do you now see my sincerity?"
A sharp light immediately flashed in Lin Suri's eyes, and profound interest spread across his pale face.
"Daoist Brother Chao! You brought such a treasure to my Baosu Marquis Residence. Are you not afraid I might summon the residence's guest ministers and martial experts to besiege you and take this treasure for myself?"
The black-robed man surnamed Chao showed no fear at all. He laughed, "Brother Lin must be joking. Without a cauldron vessel, you and I will ultimately remain trapped, unable to break free.
Although a fragment of the Time Candle is precious, it cannot compare to the Ancestral Mountain Maternal Qi, much less a complete cauldron vessel.
How could Brother Lin be so short-sighted as to lose the greater prize for a small gain?"
"Furthermore..." The smile in the Chao-surnamed man's eyes deepened. "Setting aside whether Brother Lin is willing to expose himself to Imperial Consort Chun's Mirror-Listening Technique in the capital, I have already ascended to the Qi Circulation 5th Floor!
While the Baosu Marquis Residence has many martial experts, and you are here yourself, if I am determined to flee, the residence lacks any Jade Qi Realm martial experts... I am afraid Brother Lin would not be able to stop me."
Lin Suri fell silent. A few breaths of time passed.
He suddenly stepped forward and reached out for the Time Candle.
The smile in the black-robed man's eyes grew even more pronounced, knowing Lin Suri had agreed.
Black smoke suddenly billowed from his body, spreading out like thick ink dissolving in water before vanishing in an instant...
"Brother Lin! We will meet again at the Ancestral Mountain."
Chen Lingxi's consciousness jolted violently. He felt a wave of coldness shoot up from his heart straight to the crown of his head.
Through Lin Suri's perspective, he clearly saw the man's black robes dissolve into smoke and his face mask drift away like mist.
Even those pale, pupil-less eyes completely vanished into nothingness.
'Some sort of martial art? Or perhaps an illusion?'
Chen Lingxi was astonished, entirely unsure how to comprehend the scene unfolding before him.
'No, it isn't a martial art.'
As soon as the thought arose, he immediately dismissed it in his mind.
This was not a martial art. At the very least, it was not the martial path of surging vitality and clashing iron and fire that he knew. Instead, it was a far more profound and bizarre power.
"A mist-walking technique... Could it be the [Chiyun Relay Station]?"
Lin Suri muttered to himself in a rare display of vocalization, though his gaze never strayed from the Time Candle.
He watched it quietly for a long time before finally making a move.
He walked over to the painting on the eastern wall, moved aside a blue-and-white porcelain vase sitting in front of it, bent his knuckle, and gently rapped against the mountain peak depicted on the canvas!
Instantly, a gentle breeze swept through. The ink wash painting abruptly rolled itself up, and the wall behind it silently slid open to reveal a hidden chamber inside.
Lin Suri stepped into the hidden chamber. The wall sealed shut behind him, plunging the room into total darkness.
Yet Chen Lingxi could still see everything with crystal clarity.
He clearly saw Lin Suri standing in the center of the chamber, holding the Time Candle in both hands. His pale face was completely placid, but his eyes were terrifyingly profound.
It was as if two vortexes were slowly spinning within his pupils.
Deep within those vortexes, a faint golden light occasionally gleamed, shifting and weaving like dragons and snakes!
At the same time, Chen Lingxi acutely sensed an incredibly heavy stream of [Qi] flowing out from the vortexes in Lin Suri's eyes.
This [Qi]... was nearly identical to the [Qi] Chen Lingxi cultivated and stored in his own dantian through breathing exercises.
The only difference was that Lin Suri's strand of [Qi] was remarkably dense—hundreds, perhaps thousands of times heavier than Chen Lingxi's own [Qi]!
This wisp of qi flowed slowly, drifting through the air until it finally landed on the Time Candle.
Instantly, the Time Candle began to levitate on its own.
Deep within the pitch-black body of the candle, a speck of eerie crimson light flared to life, like a single eye snapping open!
"Candle shadows sway the course of time,
An inch of ash buys rivers and mountains."
"A wisp of blue smoke fades away,
While thousand-year-old white bones sing."
These two mantra-like verses echoed in Chen Lingxi's mind without any warning.
He did not hear them with his ears; they were branded directly into the depths of his consciousness. The voice was ancient and withered, like a sigh flowing backward from the end of time.
Accompanied by the poem, dense and intricate patterns surfaced on the black candle's exterior. In the very center of the candle's body, the eerie crimson light slowly spiraled open, transforming into a vertical pupil.
Deep within the pupil, a face was actually reflected!
Chen Lingxi's breath caught in his throat.
That was no human face—at least, not the face of a living person.
It looked as though it had been pieced together.
The eyes and brows were tender and tearful, like an infant crying.
Yet the arch of the brows swept upward, echoing a young man's soaring ambition.
Meanwhile, the cheeks were marred with the withered age spots of an old man...
Features from multiple stages of life appeared simultaneously on this single face, and they seemed to be constantly shifting without a fixed form!
Even though Chen Lingxi was only using the Divine Chamber's divine ability to observe from Lin Suri's perspective, he still felt that this face—despite being trapped inside the Time Candle—was staring right at him, peering straight through the candle, through the Divine Chamber, and across the boundary between reality and illusion!
An indescribably immense pressure bore down on him, making his consciousness increasingly sluggish!
'What in the world is this thing?'
Right at that moment!
A strange power suddenly swept in from the outside. In the blink of an eye, it sank into Chen Lingxi's consciousness, restoring his clarity and scattering his fear.
'The Divine Chamber?'
Chen Lingxi's heart settled slightly.
Meanwhile, Lin Suri remained respectfully bowed, slowly saluting the face within the Time Candle!
"Greetings, Venerable Cauldron!"
The vertical pupil on the Time Candle twitched slightly. The mouth on the fragmented face opened and closed, producing a low rumble like shifting tectonic plates. "A seeker of truth. Twenty-four years of age. Qi Circulation has reached the 5th Floor. Spirit apertures unopened." The voice paused, as if chewing on a thought. "Seventy-one years of remaining lifespan."
Lin Suri's expression did not change. He merely lowered his eyes and said, "The Venerable Cauldron sees clearly."
"Since you have awakened me, you should know the rules." The light in the vertical pupil flickered and dimmed. "An inch of time is an inch of gold, but an inch of gold cannot buy an inch of time! What do you offer, and what do you seek in return?"
The light from the pupil washed over Lin Suri, illuminating him until he looked like a statue painted in vermilion and traced in gold.
"This junior seeks..." he began. "Spiritual energy!"
"Spiritual energy," the Venerable Cauldron repeated, its tone entirely flat. "The spiritual providence of this world is exceedingly thin, like a drying well. Even a single thread of spiritual energy holds extraordinary value. How much do you wish to exchange for?"
Lin Suri bowed once more.
"Enough..." he said slowly. "Enough for this junior to break through to the sixth level of Qi Circulation."
"The requirements for breaking through a realm are no trifling matter," the Venerable Cauldron said, a hint of amusement creeping into its voice. "Twelve floors of Qi Circulation, each floor a whole new world! At the 5th Floor, one cultivates the sea of qi, sealing the pores against all mortal dust.
But for the sixth floor, the spiritual liquid in the sea of qi must undergo Nine Revolutions to purge all impurities. This requires spiritual energy to scour the meridians and rebuild the foundation... Even in a Greater World, this would take three years of bitter cultivation and a hundred spirit crystals."
It paused, the vertical pupil narrowing into a profound slit. "For you to achieve this in a single leap, the spiritual energy required must pour down like a waterfall of silver bamboo!"
"Twenty years!" the Venerable Cauldron's voice suddenly echoed with finality. "Twenty years of mortal lifespan for the spiritual energy to break through to the sixth floor!"
Lin Suri's breathing abruptly quickened, and the hidden chamber fell dead silent.
"Has twenty years of time already frightened you away?" the Venerable Cauldron's voice pitched up sharply, a mocking sneer forming on the fragmented human face. "You come here seeking the truth, yet you are reluctant to part with twenty years of life?"
Lin Suri closed his eyes, appearing to weigh his options.
After a few more breaths, he finally opened his eyes. "I beseech the Venerable Cauldron to bestow the spiritual energy."
"Excellent!" the Venerable Cauldron spat a single word, and the vertical pupil instantly dilated.
Crimson light erupted like a tide of blood, instantly flooding the entire dark room. It even pierced through the walls, transforming the hidden chamber into a world of pure red.
Chen Lingxi's vision was consumed by the crimson glow. His consciousness tossed violently, like a small skiff thrown into a raging sea.
Forcing down his dizziness, he kept his eyes locked on the center of the red light.
There, the fragment of the Time Candle seemed to be melting.
The edges of the candle's body began to blur and run, dripping thick, viscous strands of silver-gray liquid.
The liquid snaked through the air, winding and tangling together until it gradually sketched out the silhouette of a tree.
At first, it was merely a sapling sprouting branches and unfurling leaves. In the next instant, it grew wildly. Its main trunk twisted like a dragon, its bark cracked like a tortoise shell, and its branches jutted out at sharp angles like thrusting halberds.
In the span of three breaths, the phantom image of a towering spiritual tree had risen within the crimson light.
It was impossible to tell how tall the tree was. Its canopy completely filled the vaulted ceiling of the dark chamber, while its roots plunged deep into the void. Every single leaf was crystal clear, with silver light flowing through their veins.
And at the very heart of the tree, a mass of spiritual energy, pure to the extreme, was rapidly condensing.
"This is [Spiritual Amber]," the Venerable Cauldron's voice resonated from the depths of the tree's shadow. "It draws upon the essence of heaven and earth and condenses the spiritual providence of the ages. A single piece of this rivals a hundred ordinary spirit crystals, and it is far easier to absorb, entirely devoid of the risk of impurities!"